Indianapolis, Indiana, March 4, 2025—Teach Plus Indiana issued the following statement about its legislative focus during the 2025 Indiana General Assembly:
During the 2025 legislative session, Teach Plus and Teach Plus teacher leaders are supporting key legislation that impacts students, families, and the teaching profession. This includes developing a more holistic picture of Indiana schools and their performance (HB1498), improving science of reading implementation and training school leaders in evidence-based literacy instruction (1499), and re-allocating funding to more strategically recruit and retain teachers (HB1500).
“Policymakers need to hear from teachers who bring their lived experiences and expertise working with students to the Capitol,” said Rachel Hathaway, Executive Director of Teach Plus Indiana. “This legislative session, Teach Plus teachers are sharing powerful stories about literacy, teacher retention, and accountability, as well as other key issues that impact students and communities in Indiana.”
To advocate for these and other priorities, 12 Teach Plus Policy Fellows from across Indiana are gathering at the Statehouse today for a day of meetings with policymakers. The Fellows, who all teach in classrooms across the state, will meet with over 25 legislators throughout the day to share their experience, expertise, and evidence-based solutions on key policy issues. In addition to HB1498, HB1499, and HB1500, Teach Plus will continue to monitor legislation that could affect schools and will create opportunities for excellent, experienced educators to weigh in on the discussions most impacting their students and communities.
HB1498: Indiana’s new accountability system must include multiple measures that, together, provide a more holistic picture of the state’s schools and their performance in different areas. We must continue to ground this system in meaningful data and ensure it is transparent enough for stakeholders to understand what each grade represents. Giving the state board the means to continue to explore this and establish meaningful criteria is a good next step, as is holding schools harmless in the process.
“As I wrote in my recent op-ed, I appreciate our state’s commitment to reimagining graduation pathways for our students. Now, we must rethink our accountability systems to better align with these pathways, the new diploma, and the GPS dashboard. I support HB1498 and the ongoing efforts to give the state the space to determine what this should look like while including the feedback of educators like me,” said John Wells, a high school teacher in Evansville and 2024-25 Teach Plus Policy Fellow.
HB1499: Indiana has already invested a substantial amount of resources in evidence-based literacy instruction known as the science of reading. As we continue to have schools implement this, it is imperative that school leaders also receive this training in the science of reading in addition to the educators who are working directly with students.
While this legislation originally included a requirement to train building-level administrators in the science of reading, this language was removed because of incoming deadlines and the fiscal ask. As this bill moves on to the Senate, Teach Plus and Teach Plus teacher leaders support the re-introduction of the requirement for administrators to be trained in the science of reading and support the fiscal investment. We must set up the right structures and support for schools to implement the science of reading with fidelity.
“In the first half of the legislative session, HB1499 included a provision that would’ve required administrator training in the science of reading, but it was removed at the last minute. During our Statehouse Day, I’m making the case for bringing that requirement back so that administrators are better prepared to build the right support for students and staff when it comes to the science of reading implementation across our state,” said Christine Bizzell, an Indianapolis Public Schools literacy coach and 2024-25 Teach Plus Policy Fellow.
HB1500: Current funding allocated to the Teacher Appreciation Grant is not leading to meaningful retention or student growth. HB1500 would give districts the flexibility to hire teachers in specific areas as well as create designations for grant awards to incentivize student growth and teacher leadership. This would allow districts to thoughtfully create mentor and coaching roles for experienced veterans while better supporting educators who are newer to the field and would benefit from being mentored.
“Reallocating the way this funding is used would reward educators who can effectively improve student performance, while giving districts the ability to fund mentorship and leadership roles. This investment in teacher performance and leadership would help both retain veteran educators like me who want to step up to be mentors while supporting teachers who are new to the profession,” said LaShanda McKinney-Carson, a veteran teacher in Indianapolis and 2024-25 Teach Plus Policy Fellow.
About Teach Plus
The mission of Teach Plus is to empower excellent, experienced, and diverse teachers to take leadership over key policy and practice issues that affect their students’ success. Since 2009, Teach Plus has trained thousands of teacher leaders across the country who are driving policy changes and improving the instructional practices of teachers to create an education system driven by equity, access, and excellence for all students.
